Spotlight On...

 

Ray Phelps-Bowman

Diversity Council Board Member

 

New Board member Ray Phelps-Bowman understands that diversity isn’t always visible. As a well-educated white male, it might be tempting to think that Ray has been in the majority for most of his life, but life has taught him that majority and minority, insider and outsider are experiences that change in time and context.

 

From age 7 to 14, Ray lived in Nigeria, West Africa, where his father was a missionary. These experiences allowed Ray to experience the feeling of being an “outsider”, both as a privileged outsider living in Nigeria, and an outsider when he returned to an American high school.

 

Ray’s experience in Nigeria and the U.S. led him to believe there may be a natural human tendency to assume that “different from me” is “less than me”, but that this idea can be overcome by exposure and relationships with diverse groups of people.

 

Ray continued to seek exposure to different people and relationships in college, living for a year in West Germany in a German dorm, and spending 2 years in the Peace Corps in Liberia where he taught math and science classes.

 

In 1969, Ray moved to Rochester, and he became a Registered Nurse 1972. Prior to joining the Diversity Council, Ray served as Secretary on the Executive Committee of the local chapter of the NAACP.

 

Ray joined the Diversity Council Board in January 2005 because he believes that being a part of the Diversity Council will give him an opportunity to make a difference and be useful to others, and enrich his relationships and experiences.